For the First Time Since 1960, There Are No Living Hall of Fame Inductees

On July 27, the National Baseball Hall of Fame will hold one of the most star-studded induction ceremonies in its history. It will include two of the most prolific hitters that ever lived, an iconic owner, a pioneering umpire and several other all-time greats.

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illustration by Jon Krause

For a museum hoping to draw fans by the thousands, there is but one problem with this lineup of luminaries: They're all dead.

In a rebuke of steroid-tainted stars, baseball writers didn't elect any candidates to the Hall this year. For the first time since 1960, there will be no living inductees. The only three people being inducted were voted in by a committee reconsidering individuals from the era before integration in 1947.

That left Hall officials to ponder a difficult question: If they could only induct ghosts, how would they attract living souls to the ceremony? The answer: More ghosts.

In addition to the three inductees, the ceremony will pay tribute to 12 current Hall of Famers who were denied induction ceremonies due to World War II.

The result is like a scene out of "Field of Dreams." The new inductees are former New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, former umpire Hank O'Day and former catcher/third baseman Deacon White, whose career ended in 1890. The existing members being honored are Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby and the entire 10-member class of 1945.

"It will definitely have a different flavor than when we have fans who come to celebrate living inductees," Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson said.

Even the man being added to the broadcasters' wing, former Toronto Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek, is being honored posthumously. The only living person accepting an official honor is Paul Hagen, a longtime Philadelphia columnist who is receiving an award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing. Given the Hall's apparent preference for ghosts this year, Hagen will be watching his step carefully for the next three weeks. "It's not July 27 yet, either, so let's not jump the gun," Hagen, 62, said.

It's not unusual for the Hall to induct members posthumously. More than one third of its 300 members gained entry after their death. But this year's all-ghost class presented a couple of unique challenges.

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Deacon White
Transcendetal Graphics/Getty Images

The first was finding people to give the induction speeches. Typically, if an inductee is deceased, the Hall asks his widow or next of kin to speak on his behalf. But the three inductees this year all died before 1940, so their immediate relatives are long gone.

There wasn't even anyone for the Hall to immediately call and congratulate when the vote was announced. Staff members first had to construct a family tree for each of the three. Then they began searching for living descendants. Then, among those, they had to find one comfortable speaking in front of a crowd.

"In years like this, in addition to being a museum professional, you become part genealogist," Idelson said.

They settled on White's great grandson, Ruppert's great grandniece and O'Day's great grandnephew. For the 12 honorees, a different living Hall of Famer will read the text on each of their plaques.

The larger issue, for both the Hall and the lakeside village that surrounds it, is how many fans will show up. Last year, when Barry Larkin and Ron Santo were inducted, Idelson said the ceremony drew around 20,000 people. This year, he said the Hall would be thrilled if it could draw more than 10,000, though he said it is hard to project the size of the crowd.

Unlike most years, when fans flock from the city where an inductee earned his fame—such as Cincinnati, in Larkin's case—the Hall expects to draw mostly from New York state. Fans within driving distance don't need to plan as far ahead and could even be swayed by the weather forecast.

"No one here expects our numbers to be what they would be if we had a headline Hall of Famer," Idelson said. "But there's enough going on throughout the weekend that it makes it fun and palatable for casual fans to attend or those that make a habit or history of doing so."

For the town's businesses, this weekend is typically the most profitable of the year. And this year had the potential to be good as any with a ballot that included Mike Piazza, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens—all of whom failed to get enough votes.

As a result, many local merchants are bracing for a relatively lean weekend. Jeff Foster, owner of Legends Are Forever, a memorabilia store down the street from the Hall, said the weekend typically accounts for 15% to 20% of his annual sales.

"This year is going to be absolutely horrible," Foster said. "It's going to be like a regular weekend, maybe a little bit better than a regular weekend."

The only crowd seemingly unaffected by the lack of living inductees is living Hall of Famers. Forty-one of the 62 plan to attend the weekend festivities, according to the Hall, only a slight drop from the 44 that attended last year.

"I go to see the other old-timers," Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson said. In body or in spirit, there will be no shortage of those.

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